:: suffering is optional :: especially at pooh corner ::

Started reading Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running today. Am not even through the intro yet and am struck by this:

Murakami is talking about how grueling the marathon is and how if you don't keep repeating a mantra of some sort to yourself, you'll never survive.

"One runner told of a mantra his older brother, also a runner, had taught him which he's pondered ever since he began running. Here it is: Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you're running and you start to think, Man this hurts, I can't take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself. This pretty much sums up the most important aspect of marathon running."

How many areas can we apply this mantra to in our lives? That's what I'm finding with running...everything I'm learning from this journey carries over and applies to all other aspects of my life: my PhD (a marathon in itself), my marriage, my friendships, my being a parent, my overall satisfaction and fulfillment, my faith...

For sure I could not have gotten through my first 10 miler at the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in DC this past April without repeating The Doxology* over and over in my head from about mile 5 to mile 10. And during this past weekend's 20 miler, when faced with running alone for the last 3 miles, I found myself singing Loggins and Messina's House at Pooh Corner the whole of mile 18 (a song I sing to my daughter each night at bedtime).

What will my mantra be on race day? I don't know...something to think about.
Until then, a little bit of Loggins and Messina for you:


*(The Doxology was just about the most perfect song to have in my head during the Cherry Blossom 10...it caused me to really think about how grateful I was that I was able run in the first place - thankful for legs, arms, heart, breath - and running down roads shaded by cherry blossom branches in full bloom...though I was struggling to finish my longest run to date, I felt I was running in heaven.

"Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost")